Pakistan auto industry is facing many challenges right now. These include bad economic situation of the country, ever deteriorating Pakistani currency against the US dollar and the steps taken by government to keep US Dollars inside country. Overall the Pakistan’s economy is facing challenges mainly due to political instability in the country, which affected the foreign exchanges reserves of country, which are at lowest right now. To keep the US Dollars in country, govt of Pakistan pun on many restriction.
These restrictions are resulting in difficulties for car manufacturers of Pakistan in opening the Letters of Credits (LCs) with the local banks to import completely knocked down (CKD) vehicles kits. Which results in disruption of supplies for car manufacturing, hence closures of manufacturing plants, resulting in the cost increase for all the auto manufacturers of Pakistan which rely on the CKD imports to manufacture the cars and other vehicles.
Second factor is ever deteriorating Pakistani currency and USD price going higher and higher with time against Pakistani rupee. This also results in cost increase for the Pakistan’s auto industry. So to compensate for the lost revenue, Pakistani auto makers are forced to increase the vehicle prices.
Among many others, one such price increase came from KIA Lucky Motors Pakistan recently in Jan 2023. This price increase will be valid on all bookings from Jan 31, 2023. The details of increase in car prices is as follows.
Increase in Kia Picanto prices
| Vehicle | New Price | Old Price | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| KIA Picanto MT | 3,200,000 | 3,100,000 | 100,000 |
| KIA Picanto AT | 3,400,000 | 3,200,000 | 200,000 |
Increase in Kia Stonic prices
| Vehicle | New Price | Old Price | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| KIA Stonic EX | 4,800,000 | 4,747,000 | 255,000 |
| KIA Stonic Ex+ | 5,250,000 | 4,848,000 | 402,000 |
Increase in Kia Sportage prices
| Vehicle | New Price | Old Price | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| KIA Sportage Alpha | 6,500,000 | 6,250,000 | 250,000 |
| KIA Sportage FWD | 7,000,000 | 6,750,000 | 250,000 |
| KIA Sportage AWD | 7,650,000 | 7,250,000 | 400,000 |
Increase in Kia Sorento prices
| Vehicle | New Price | Old Price | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| KIA Sorento 2.4L FWD | 8,400,000 | 7,800,000 | 600,000 |
| KIA Sorento 2.4L AWD | 9,100,000 | 8,500,000 | 600,000 |
| KIA Sorento 3.5L FWD | 9,100,000 | 8,500,000 | 600,000 |
Increase in Kia Carnival prices
| Vehicle | New Price | Old Price | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| KIA Carnival GLS Exec | 13,699,000 | 15,000,000 | 1,301,000 |
In addition to this car prices increase by KIA Pakistan, car prices increase by other motor companies of Pakistan are also expected. Toyota have recently announced second car prices increase of Jan 2023 and many others announced car prices increase at least once in Jan 2023. This includes cars prices increase by Honda Pakistan in Jan 2023 and cars prices increase by Suzuki in Jan 2023.